Bacon is back in Tennessee, sort of. Since 1970, Tennessee’s pig population has decreased by 86.4% compared to a 9% decrease nationally, yet this month the Pig Improvement Company USA (PIC)—a world leader in genetic pig stock production—relocated its North American headquarters to Tennessee.

In 2005, the Tennessee pork industry had over $52 million in cash receipts and ranked 24th in the United States in pork population. Tennessee’s 1,300 pig farms take up 51,876 acres of land and constitute the state’s 10th most lucrative agricultural industry. Respectable, but nothing too exceptional.

Then why did PIC, a part of British biotechnology firm Genus PLC, choose to move from Franklin, Ky., to Hendersonville, Tenn.? “It offers improved access for customer visits, while remaining close enough to the old facility for employees who don’t wish to move to commute,” says PIC global spokesman Keith Canfield. Also, many of PIC executives already live in Sumner County. PIC’s move brings with it approximately 90 positions, including 10 geneticists and another 10 veterinarians/nutritionists/food scientists.

Selling breeding stock and boar semen is a profitable business. In 2005, PIC earned over $37 million in revenue. In the United States alone, PIC products are sold to over 2,000 farms, cooperatives and integrated pork systems.

Continual genetic improvement can be a key factor in helping ensure a pig producer remains competitive. PIC believes its products like PIC 337G—the industry’s leading growth rate boar—are invaluable because they reduce genetic lag, improve animal health and meat quality, and prevent the dissemination of economically devastating disease.

Will this seller of swine genetics help the state’s ailing pork industry? Not really, according to the Tennessee pork lobby’s Phyllis Ferguson. “We welcome the industry and jobs,” Ferguson says, “but I doubt it will have any impact other than maybe making smaller farms aware of the genetic opportunities available to them.” Tennessee was once a national leader in pork production. Steadily declining pork prices through the ’80s and ’90s teamed with environmental concerns like poor water quality and foul odor retarded growth in the industry. Geography played a role, as well. University of Tennessee pork economist Glen Conaster explains, “it has proven more efficient and cost-effective to raise pigs on the large farms in Iowa and North Carolina, where a pork market exists, rather than in Tennessee where there is no buying market.” PIC may not have a direct economic impact on Tennessee’s pork economy. But it can be a source of pride for Tennesseans living both on farms and in cities that the best pork stock available derives from geneticists operating in our own backyard. feedback: ruble@businesstn.com